Of Love, Honour and Revenge Ch. 27
By Matt Lawson

Several hours later…..

Evil Ryu slept, suspended in a large tank. His evil energy was being drained out of him, powering a huge generator a few feet away. He didn't mind, he had been told it was for a destructive purpose, and that was all he needed to know.

Dr. Tanaka peered into the tank, looking at the suspended being in front of him. Evil Ryu's energy levels were an amazing discovery to him, as he watched the generator's power meter rise. The generator was the power source for the Psycho Beam, Shadowloo's most powerful weapon. The beam was fired from a main cannon situated below the ground next to the temple. Once it was fired into the atmosphere, the satellite would reflect the beam towards the target. Depending on the power that was released, the beam could destroy anything from a mansion to an entire city.

Bison walked into the room. "Doctor, what's the generator's status now?"

Dr. Tanaka turned round to face Bison. "The amount of energy that this man is emitting is remarkable. It has only been two hours and the generator is almost complete. It will by completely full within the hour, my lord."

"Excellent. Tell me when it is ready. I intend to use it immediately."

"Yes sir."

Bison left the room, leaving the Doctor to continue his research on Evil Ryu.

After a day's worth of walking with Blanka, Cammy arrived at the temple, and was amazed by the structure. It was Bison's base alright, there were several Shadowloo agents walking around it, followed by several slaves.

Cammy gripped the handle of her modified FAMAS and scanned the area. There was no immediate entry to the temple. The main entrance would be far too heavily guarded for one spy to enter, and there were no other entrances visible.

Suddenly, a alarm klaxon blared into life, the noise piercing both Cammy's and Blanka's ears. Cammy put her hand to her ears, trying to drown out the noise. Blanka just squealed in pain.

Sh**, have they spotted us? Cammy thought with dread.

She saw the Shadowloo agents and slaves run inside the building. Suddenly, a large fearsome-looking contraption erupted from a hole in the ground directly next to the temple. Cammy instantly recognized it, and drew herself back in fear.

"The Psycho Beam? It's operational?!"

Blanka whimpered on the ground next to her.

"Lord Bison, it is done. The generator is at full power, and we are awaiting your commands."

"Excellent. Prepare to fire a small amount of power."

"At what target, sir?"

"……..The White House."

"Very good sir."

Bison turned in his throne and gazed at the screen. It showed two images, one of the psycho beam, directly next to the temple. Dan and Adon was with him, Adon gleaming with delight. Dan, however, was not so pleased.

"Sir, what are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing, Hibiki? I'm showing my power to the world."

"But….."

"There are no 'buts' in this outfit, Hibiki. I will show the world the glorious power of Shadowloo."

"But innocent people will die!"

"What do you think this is? A charity? Of course innocent people will die! That is the whole purpose of this attack. Now shut up and watch!"

Bison looked back as the Psycho Beam charged up it's power.

The intercom spoke. "Ten seconds……nine……..eight……seven….."

Bison sipped some of the wine he was holding.

"Six……..five……four…….."

In the room where Evil Ryu was suspended, Akuma gazed at him. They both smiled.

"Three…….two…….one………fire!"

Inside her cell, Chun Li looked up as she heard a huge noise erupt from the ground and fire into the air. The noise woke Sakura up with a startled cry.

The White House…..

Several tourists were outside the gates of the most important building in Washington D.C. The President and his family was away, the President on a diplomatic mission in Ireland to talk with the Prime Minister and the members of the Belfast government about the declining peace talks in Northern Ireland, his wife and child in New York. All the other important members of the American government, including the Vice President, the Joint Chiefs, and most of the Cabinet, were inside, along with several dozen tourists and state employees.

Suddenly, a huge beam of white light fell down onto the White House. It erupted into a big ball of flame, pieces flying all over the grounds. The tourists outside ducked for cover, screaming. Within seconds, it was all over. The White House was nothing more than a memory.

The same words and the same images were flooding the world now, delivered by satellites to over a billion pairs of eyes that'd been watching the news coverage, or been alerted to the event and had changed channels from morning shows in some countries, lunch and evening shows in others. History had been made, and there was an imperative to watch.

In El Toro, the entire base watched with their breaths held in shock as they saw the shocking news flash of the destruction of the White House. Ken, Guile, Charlie and General McGruder stood still as they stared at the T.V. screen.

"……..Although the President and his family themselves were not in the White House at the time, many important figures of the cabinet, including the Vice President, were in the White House during the time of the attack. In total, five hundred victims were killed, including several tourists and state employees.

America is now in a state of total panic. There is no confirmation as to who was involved behind the attack, but it is believed that the terrorist group Shadowloo was behind….*"

Suddenly, the television screens fizzled out, and the picture changed. Every single person in El Toro's eyes widened as the image conveyed changed into that of the leader of Shadowloo.

"Greetings, people of the world. I am the leader of Shadowloo, Lord M. Bison. We are the group directly responsible for the attack on your beloved White House. Do not bother adjusting your channel, we are broadcasting on every single channel throughout the world.

The attack should give you a demonstration of our level of power. It is in fact only a small portion of our total destructive capability. In fact, we have enough power at the moment to destroy a whole city. Not only that, we also have several Cruise missiles armed with VX gas warheads, a very powerful anti-personnel gas that can kill you in seconds. To prove this, we shall show you all the following tape of a VX attack on a small village in Brazil."

The world watched the earlier VX attack on the small village. Most of the people watching became sick when they saw the sight of the melting flesh and dead corpses. The image reverted back to Bison.

"I think that shows how powerful we have become. We also have at least two hundred slaves and a number of hostages, including an important Interpol Detective, so I wouldn't try an air-strike if I were you, lest you don't mind killing more than two-hundred hostages.

We have several demands that we would like to see met, otherwise, we will display our power again. Here are our demands.

First, we would like the legalisation of every major drug in the world, from Heroin to Cocaine. Second, we would like fifty billion dollars transferred from various sources, including $100 million from the Grand Cayman Red Sea Trading Company account to an account that I designate. In case you don't know, it's the slush fund where the Pentagon keeps proceeds from illegal arms sales."

General McGruder stepped back in shock. "How the h*ll did he know that?! It was classified information."

"And it has now been broadcast to the entire world." Guile spoke.

Bison continued, "I will use these funds to create my own man-made island named after my syndicate. I will have no contact from the outside world once the island is complete, and it will be run by me alone. There will be no attack. My threat will last for longer than you think.

You have twenty hours to comply with my demands. If you refuse payment and drug-legalisation after that time, I fire. If you try to attack with anything, from an airstrike to a Marine invasion, I fire. In fact, you're going to have to work very hard to keep a lot of people alive, to be exact, a lot of Londoners alive. The next target I will fire my Psycho beam will be London, England. You know, and I know that there will not be enough time for every single human being living in London to evacuate the city. I expect an answer in twenty hours.

God save the Queen…..because nobody else will."

The image of Bison faded, and reverted to the faces of news anchormen and women around the world. El Toro was in a state of silence.

Ken was the one to speak first. "The Streets of London will be completely packed. Hardly anyone will get out of there in time."

Guile and Charlie turned and started to walk out of the room.

"Where are you going?" shouted Ken.

"To prepare for an airstrike." responded Guile, without turning to face Ken.

"But didn't you hear what he said? He'll fire if you try to attack him from the air. And what about Ryu and Chun Li, as well as those two hundred slaves."

"We'll just have to…..hope…..that Cammy completes her mission in time."

Sagat had been returned to the prison cell Chun Li was occupying. Dan opened the door and walked inside. Chun Li stood up.

"What happened."

Dan had his head looking downwards. "…..Bison blew up the White House with the Psycho beam. The President and his family was away at the time, but the rest of the Cabinet, as well as several tourists and employees, were killed."

Chun Li couldn't move. Things were getting worse for her by the minute.

"He's going to be targeting London next, unless the whole world responds to his demands in the next twenty hours."

At the mention of London, Chun Li thought of her best friend, Cammy. She couldn't respond, she was speechless.

"I'll tell you every further developments. But I'm not sure you'll like what I'll have to say."

Dan turned and exited the room, closing the door behind him.

"What the h*ll does he think he's playing at?" asked Sagat.

Chun Li didn't respond, she was too welled up with emotion to say anything.

"Listen," Sagat continued, "I heard about what they've done to Ryu. And if it means anything to you, I'm sorry."

"Why would you care? You never liked him anyway."

"Maybe. But you do. A police officer in love with a wandering warrior isn't that common in this world."

"This has become too personal, Sagat. I'm no longer a police officer. I'll probably be dead soon."

"This is not the way to go, Miss Li."

"They just declared war on the entire world."

"Well, maybe you can become a fighter for the world. You're strong enough. And I know that deep down, Ryu is stronger than anyone. He can't yield to this 'Shun Goku Satsu' so easily as Bison and Akuma may think. Maybe you can break the link between him and the evil intent."

"Maybe. But how?"

"I don't know. Maybe someone will show up to save us."

"………Thank you."

Chun Li felt a little better after hearing Sagat's words. But for now, the situation was hopeless. She was in the cell, and Ryu was far away.

Outside, Cammy heard what Bison had said through the loudspeakers from the temple. The situation was getting out of hand. She had very little time left.

Suddenly, Blanka ran away from her.

"Blanka, get back here!" she hissed, but Blanka ignored her. She ran after him. She then noticed that the air was becoming more stagnant and foul-smelling.

Suddenly, Blanka stopped, pointing to the ground below. Cammy overlooked the edge. She saw a sewage outlet pipe that ran all the way to the temple. Blanka had just shown her a way of getting inside, no matter how bad it was. It was something at least.

"Blanka. You have just been very helpful indeed."

She put her back-pack to the ground and took out her swimsuit and oxygen mask. It wouldn't hide the smell, but it would at least stop her from choking on it.

"Make sure that when the hostages have escaped you escort them to at least some semblance of civilization, as far away from here as possible."

"Ugh, ugh. Okay."

"See you around."

She flipped over the end of the pipe and started to crawl through the small stream of sewage that pushed against her. Hopefully, this would make her one step closer to completing her mission, and saving Chun Li's life.

Blanka watched her disappear into the pipe, then sat down, scratching his back and looking towards the temple.